Property firm swears off timber

By BERNARD ORSMAN

An Auckland property developer is building his latest apartment tower in concrete and glass to avoid leaks which affected two other sites.

Redwood Group boss Tony Gapes said yesterday that the 17-storey Scene tower on the Auckland waterfront would not have a single metre of timber in its structure.

The Auckland City Council has given consent for Redwood to build Scene with 126 apartments on reclaimed land behind the old Oriental Markets in Quay St.

The Herald has revealed problems at two of Mr Gapes' developments. His 65-unit Silverfield Terraces site in St Lukes is leaking badly after just 16 months. Plans are in place to evacuate residents if toxic mould is found.

The other troubled Redwood development is the 97-apartment Eden Two site in Mt Eden, which has rotting balconies.

Mr Gapes said Redwood accepted the problems and was doing all it could to fix them.

"We have been aware of this leaky building problem for probably six months and we have made a company policy that where we can we are going to build everything in concrete and steel and where we have to use timber it will only be treated timber.

"And we will build a cavity system that has been advocated by the building experts.

"That is costing us a lot more money, but it means that we are only producing quality buildings that have no chance of problems with rotting timber," Mr Gapes said.

Seventy-three of the 126 units at Scene have been sold off the plans. Building is due to start before the end of the year and be completed in 12 months.

Redwood has also announced a retail development on the site, including a supermarket..

Auckland City Council's principal building officer, Bob De Leur, said the developer had still to lodge a separate application for a building consent.

"We will be looking very hard at the cladding system employed and the details, particularly around the balconies," Mr De Leur said.

A noise condition has been imposed on the consent forbidding residents at Scene from making complaints against the nearby Ports of Auckland.

Ports of Auckland spokeswoman Bronwen Jones said the port was a 24-hour business and it worked hard to reduce noise from its operations.

"On the other hand, Ports of Auckland has requested that people who move close to the port to live in new developments ... do not complain about port noise."

Mr Gapes said Scene would be built using acoustically rated glass and be mechanically vented so all doors and windows could be closed.

* If you have information about leaking buildings,
email the Herald or fax (09) 373-6421.

Further reading
Feature: Leaky buildings

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